Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is a retired Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer popularly known as the "Metro Man". He is credited for changing the face of public transport in India by his leadership for building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro when he served as the managing director of Delhi Metro between 1995–2012.[2] He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001,[3] the Padma Vibhushan in 2008,[4] the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur[3] in 2005 and named one of Asia's Heroes by TIME magazine in 2003.[5][6]

For a short tenure, he worked as a lecturer in Civil engineering at the Government Polytechnic, Kozhikode[7][8] and a year at the Bombay Port Trust as an apprentice.

Later he joined the Indian Engineering Service (IES), after clearing ESE-1953 conducted by the UPSC. His first assignment was in the Southern Railway as a Probationary Assistant Engineer in December 1954.

In December 1964, a cyclone washed away parts of Pamban Bridge that connected Rameswaram to mainland Tamil Nadu. The Railways set a target of six months for the bridge to be repaired while Sreedharan's boss, under whose jurisdiction the bridge came, reduced it to three months. Sreedharan was put in-charge of the execution and he restored the bridge in just 46 days.[7][8] The Railway minister's Award was given to him in recognition of this achievement.

In 1970, as the deputy chief engineer, he was put in charge for implementation, planning and design of Calcutta metro, the first ever metro in India.[7] To everyone's surprise, Sreedharan not only completed this much heralded project but also laid down the foundation of modern infrastructure engineering in India. He was taken off this post in 1975.[9]

When Sreedharan joined the Cochin Shipyard in October 1979,[2] the agency was undergoing a phase of unproductivity. The production of its first ship MV Rani Padmini had been delayed for a long period.[9] When Sreedharan took over, he turned the fortunes of the shipyard around and made sure its first ship was built while he was its chairman and managing director (CMD). In 1981, under Sreedharan's leadership, the shipyard launched its first ship, the MV Rani Padmini.[10]

He was promoted as general manager, Western Railway in July 1987, and in July 1989 elevated to the post of Member Engineering, Railway Board and ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India.[8] On his retirement in June 1990, the Government made it clear it still needed his services and he was appointed the CMD of Konkan Railway on contract in 1990 by the then railway minister, George Fernandes. Under his stewardship, the company executed its mandate in seven years. The project was unique in many respects. It was the first major project in India to be undertaken on a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) basis; the organisation structure was different from that of a typical Indian Railway set-up; the project had 93 tunnels along a length of 82 km and involved tunnelling through soft soil. The total project covered 760 km and had over 150 bridges. That a public sector project could be completed without significant cost and time overruns was considered an achievement by many.

He was made the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail corporation (DMRC) and by mid-1997 by the Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma[?], all the scheduled sections were completed by their target date or before, and within their respective budgets. Sreedharan was given the sobriquet of Metro Man by the media for his grand success in executing the completion of the Delhi Metro.[11] His stint in the Delhi Metro has been considered so successful and crucial to India that in 2005, he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by the government of France, and the Padma Vibhushan by the government of India in 2008.[4] There were also demands by prominent political figures that Sreedharan be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the most prestigious civilian award in India.[12] He was particularly known for isolating his projects from political pressures and influences and winning political commitments for fast execution of projects.[13][14] He had announced that he would retire by the end of 2005, but his tenure was further extended to oversee the completion of the second phase of Delhi Metro. After 16 years of service with the Delhi Metro, Sreedharan retired from service on 31 December 2011.

After his retirement from DMRC, Sreedharan has been appointed as Principal Advisor of the Kochi Metro Rail Project.[15] Initially, the project faced hurdles when a controversy broke out with the government announcing a global tender process for Kochi Metro, rather than letting DMRC handle the consultancy and project execution as Sreedharan and DMRC had initially asked for.[2] Vested interests in the government have been alleged in this decision.[16] However, several political parties came out in opposition of the move, and backed Sreedharan's decision in enforcing DMRC's role in the Kochi Metro, after which the government reversed its stance.[17] In 2013, Sreedharan estimated that the Kochi metro would be ready by 3 years.[18]

A Book on Sreedharan's life is 'Karmayogi: E. Sreedharante Jeevitha Katha' (Translated: The story of E. Sreedharan's life) is an authentic biography by M. S. Asokan. A short biography on E. Sreedharan was penned by P.V. Alby, named 'Jeevithavijayathinte Paadapusthakam' (translated: A Texbook on success in life). Both these books were top sellers in Kerala during the time Sreedharan took up his post on the Kochi Metro project as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's principal advisor.[29]

Sreedharan's wife is Radha Sreedharan. The couple has four children: eldest son Ramesh is one of the vice-presidents at Tata Consultancy Services; daughter Santhi Menon runs a school in Bangalore, another son, Achut Menon, is a doctor in the UK. Their youngest son is Krishnadas.